"What I'm doing is kind of for everyone ... representing girls as athletes and student-athletes."

Born in Tartu, Estonia, on Aug. 24, 1990, Pold moved to the United States with her family in February 1992. Meeting the Olympic qualifying time coupled with her dual nationality allows her to compete for Estonia in Beijing.

"It's been a lucky set of circumstances, a really, really lucky set of circumstances," Pold said.

She knows that the competition to make the U.S. team is much more fierce and that a minimum cut time does not make the grade.

The idea of competing for Estonia in the Olympics originated with Pold's father, Mehis. He contacted Estonian federation officials after his daughter's junior year at Torrey Pines, and they were happy to have her if she could qualify.

"I realized that it was a good opportunity and I should try to take advantage of it," said Pold, who will attend the University of Florida on a swimming scholarship in the fall.

June 13, 2008

Port of Tallinn has sponsored EOK for many years and this year’s money goes for preparing the athletes for the Olympic Games and covering transportation expenses to Beijing, aripaev.ee wirtes.

Neinar Seli, the chairman of the supervisory board at Port of Tallinn, said that supporting Estonia's sport is an honor and the company is glad to contribute in Estonian athletes’ participation in Olympic Games.

February 18, 2006

* President Arnold Rüütel made a phone call to Torino today after the Olympic award ceremony to congratulate Kristina Šmigun on her second gold medal. The Head of State congratulated the Olympic winner, her family and the whole team, and wished strength for the next competition.

On February 12, when Kristina Šmigun won her first Olympic gold medal, President Rüütel was in Torino where he followed the women's 15 km pursuit event and attended the ceremony of felicitations following the competition.

The President of the Republic stayed in Torino from February 10 to February 14 and followed the Olympic events where Estonian contestants participated. On February 10, President Rüütel attended the Opening Ceremony of the XX Olympic Winter Games, and met with Mario Boidi, Estonian Honorary Consul in Torino. While being in Torino and San Sicario, the Estonian head of state also met with the King of Norway, Prince Albert of Monaco, the presidents of Federal Republic of Germany, Czech Republic and the Republic of Latvia, as well as with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Finland.

On February 12, the President's schedule included the following events: the men's 20 km biathlon, the 15 km ........

February 12, 2006

By JANIE McCAULEY AP Sports Writer

PRAGELATO (AP)— Kristina Smigun of Estonia skated to gold in the women's 15-kilometer pursuit Sunday, the first cross-country event since 12 athletes were suspended from the sport for failed blood tests.

World Cup leader and favorite Marit Bjorgen of Norway dropped out before the midway point of the race with a stomach problem.

The field was also without Salt Lake City gold medalist Evi Sachenbacher of Germany, one of the skiers suspended this week for high levels of hemoglobin in their blood.

"It was a clean race," said Canada's Beckie Scott, the defending champion who finished sixth. "Things are getting better in our sport. The testing is good and I'm confident it was a clean event."

Smigun made a strong push in the home stretch through the stadium to overtake silver medalist Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic, winning in 42 minutes, 48.7 seconds 1.9 seconds ahead of Neumannova. The two broke away from the pack in the final couple of kilometers.

Russia's Evgenia Medvedeva-Abruzova earned bronze in 43:03.2.

Scott, awarded the pursuit gold in Salt Lake City when two Russians were disqualified for doping, led early in the second half of the race. Scott had a great run in December on the World Cup circuit on her home snow and hoped to use that momentum for big results in the Turin Games.

An emotional Scott shared a long embrace with husband Justin Wadsworth, a three-time U.S. Olympian in cross country, as she made her way through the finish area.

January 28, 2005

According to Mobile Wholesale, Estonia's largest mobile operator EMT and fixed-line operator Elion sold a total of 160,000 mobile phones in 2004.

This is about 30 percent more than a year earlier. The biggest growth was recorded in the segment of medium-class and top-of-the line phone models.

According to Indrek Randveer, service and sale manager of EMT, sales of mobile phones in Estonia went up in the same way as in the whole world.

Statistics shows that the market leader in Estonia is still Nokia, but Samsung and Alcatel have made major inroads recently.

At the same time customers have been buying fewer SonyEricsson phones. "This may be because the manufacturer has not shown interest towards the Estonian market," said Hanno Eerme, CEO of Mobile Wholesale.